Creating a Specification
When you create a specification, you can define the specification content by:
Manually inserting input and output variables.
Referencing an IS document type for the input and/or output signature.
Referencing a specification to use as the entire signature.
Typically, you do not build a specification by referencing another specification. However, it is useful to do this in the situation where you will use the specification with a group of services whose requirements are expected to change (that is, they match an existing specification now but are expected to change at some point in the future). Referencing a specification gives you the convenience of using an existing specification and the flexibility to change the specification for only that single group of services in the future.
To create a specification
1. In Designer: File > New > Specification
2. In the New Specification dialog box, select the folder in which you want to save the specification.
3. In the Element Name field, type a name for the specification using any combination of letters, numbers, and/or the underscore character. For information about restricted characters, see About Element Names. 4. Click Finish.
5. To define the specification content by referencing another specification, in the Specification Reference field in the Input/Output tab, type the fully qualified name of the specification, or click to select it from a list. 6. To use an IS document type to define the input content for a specification, in the Input field, type the fully qualified name of the IS document type or click to select it from a list. 7. To use an IS document type to define the output content for a specification, in the Output field, type the fully qualified name of the IS document type or click to select it from a list. 8. To define the specification by inserting variables manually, do the following for each variable that you want to add:
a. In the Palette view, select the type of variable you want to define and drag it to the Input or Output side of the Input/Output tab.
If the Palette view is not visible, display it by clicking
on the right side of the specification editor.
b. Type a name for the variable and press ENTER.
c. With the variable selected, set variable properties and apply constraints using the Properties view.
d. If the variable is a document or document list, repeat steps a–c to define and set the properties and constraints for each of its members. Use to indent each member beneath the document or document list variable. 9. Optionally, enter comments or notes for the specification in the Comments tab.
10. Click File > Save.